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McDonald caps great 2007 with another goal

Qantas Socceroo striker Scott McDonald ended 2007 on a high note, with his 16th goal of the season for Celtic, in a 3-0 win over Gretna that maintained their lead of the Scottish Premier League table.

Qantas Socceroo striker Scott McDonald ended 2007 on a high note, with his 16th goal of the season for Celtic, in a 3-0 win over Gretna that maintained their lead of the Scottish Premier League table.

McDonald opened the scoring for the defending champions in the 35th minute, with a sweetly struck shot from the edge of the box, to end a three-game scoring drought for the productive finisher.

It ended a fantastic year for the Victorian, who scored 7 goals in 2007 for Motherwell in season (2006/07) where he scored 16 in all competitions and earned him a transfer to the Scottish Champions during the off-season.

He is now the ace in Celtic-s pack and his form and confidence is likely to place him at the front of the queue for selection in the national team for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers that will take place during 2008.

Also continuing his recent run of goalscoring form is Everton-s Tim Cahill, who scored his 8th goal of the season, but was unable to prevent Everton from going down 4-1 at home against EPL leaders Arsenal.

Cahill stabbed home from close range in the 19th minute to give Everton the lead, but a superb second half by the Gunners, saw them completely dominate and hand the Toffees a decent hiding.

There was good news though for Lucas Neill and his West Ham team, as they won 2-1 at home against previous leaders Manchester United. The Hammers struck twice in the final 15 minutes to take the three points in a remarkable finish.

Brett Emerton again played a full game as Blackburn Rovers won 2-1 away at Derby County; Mark Schwarzer played a full game, as Middlesbrough upset Portsmouth 1-0; Harry Kewell was lively in Liverpool-s 0-0 draw at Manchester City; while Mark Viduka only saw a few minutes in Newcastle United-s 2-1 loss at Chelsea.

Richard Garcia played a full game, as Hull City won 1-0 at home against Sheffield Wednesday and closed to within a point of the promotion play-off spots; David Carney remained on the bench for Sheffield United in a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace, while Patrick Kisnorbo played a full game and James Wesolowski came on in the 76th minute, as Leicester City drew 1-1 at home with Charlton Athletic.

In Holland, Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven) and Luke Wilkshire (FC Twente) both enjoyed full games in 2-0 wins; Eddy Bosnar played a full game as Heracles lost 1-0; while Brett Holman was replaced in the 80th minute, as NEC Nijmegen lost 3-0 away at Willem II.